Leviticus 16:7-10, 15-22.. 7 He shall take the two goats and present them before the Lord at the doorway of the tent of meeting.8 Aaron shall cast lots for the two goats, one lot for the Lord and the other lot for the scapegoat.

The word “scapegoat” is never used of Jesus in the Bible, but it is used of a male goat in the Old Testament sacrificial system which pictured the sacrifice of Jesus in his death on the cross. On the Day of Atonement, two male goats were selected. A

One was to be killed and its blood sprinkled on and before the mercy seat in the Holy of Holies where the glory of God dwelt. B This goat’s death as a sacrifice to God symbolized the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross.

The priest would lay his hands on the head of the second goat “and confess over it all the iniquities of the people of Israel, and all their transgressions…all their sins.” C Then the goat would be led away “into the wilderness”, never to be seen again. This goat was called the scapegoat because all the guilt of the people was symbolically transferred to it, and their sins carried away forever.

The death of the first goat symbolized the exhausting or propitiation of the wrath of God through the death of, Jesus, an innocent victim substituted in the sinner’s place. D The sending away of the second goat set forth the effect, the complete removal of the sin from the presence of God.

Jesus became our scapegoat, bearing the guilt of our sins in His sacrifice on the cross and removing them away from the presence of God forever.